Sales of a particular product or service may be based upon how well that product or service is marketed to a consumer. One form of marketing is a coupon, typically in paper form, for a discount toward the product or service. Some coupons may be retailer specific, for example, only redeemable for the discount at a particular retailer, while other coupons may be product specific from a manufacturer and redeemable at any retailer.
As the capability of electronic devices increases, it may be particularly desirable to use such devices as part of a marketing campaign, for example, to provide electronic coupons or electronic promotional offers. Similar to a paper coupon, an electronic promotional offer encourages a consumer to visit a particular retailer and/or purchase a particular product in exchange for a discount, free product, and/or other benefit conferred upon the consumer. With an electronic promotional offer, unlike a paper coupon, consumer data, for example, shopping habits and/or brand preferences may more easily be acquired.
Promotional offer providers generally have a dollar amount to spend on a given promotional offer campaign, for example, in terms of redemption. Statistics may give an idea on how many promotional offers of a given promotional offer campaign are likely to be redeemed. However, there may be instances where the promotional offer campaign is withdrawn or cancelled because the dollar amount equivalent to the amount of promotional offers redeemed has been met.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,006,983 to Packes et al. is directed to a system for processing a rebate. More particularly, Packes et al. discloses providing a point of sale (POS) rebate. If the POS rebate has expired, a consolation POS rebate may be made in an effort to maintain the good will of the consumer, or the consumer may be allowed to redeem the offer but may be penalized in future transactions.